Senate refutes removing Lagos-Calabar rail project from budget

Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa has denied removing the Lagos to Calabar rail line project from the 2016 budget.
The senator was reacting to statement emanating from the presidency that they removed the project and some other important projects leading to President Muhamedu Buhari withholding his assent.
According to him, “While the committee did not completely agree with all the changes made in the subsequent document, being fully aware of the critical importance of the rail sector to the development of our dear country, distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Land Transport keyed into the laudable (Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation) project and found ways of appropriating funds for the project without exceeding the envelope provided for the ministry.
“In so doing, the committee observed that the Lagos to Kano rail rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52 billion as against the sum of N60 billion which the Hon. Minister requested as counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos to Calabar rail line.
“Hence, the sum of N54 billion that was discovered by the Senate Committee on Land Transport to be floating in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation as presented by the executive was injected into augmenting the funds needed for counterpart funding of both projects (Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation), as at the time the committee defended its report before the Senate Committee on Appropriation.
“The Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project was therefore included in the Senate Committee on Land Transports recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.”